Kill Order
A is a document issued by the PRT allowing for the murder of a cape with no legal repercussions. A rarely wielded tool, a kill order brings society's wrath down onto its target.Keep in mind that the PRT is in large part a PR organization. They want to recruit wherever possible, and the more kill orders you sign off on, the less people are going to be willing to play ball with you. As a general rule, the only villains who justify a kill order are those where, if you were to poll the local villain community, Arson Jones is going to say, "Yeahhhhh, you need to put that motherfucker down." Just as a rule of thumb. In a healthy, functioning city (Brockton Bay is not this) it's not something that's going to come up with any frequency. What is it? A Kill Order is basically kicked off by the PRT reaching out to other authorities (police, government) and outlining the situation, often through meetings, and often with other Directors from nearby cities getting involved. Given what the Kill Order is, in most cases the police & government already know what's up, and oftentimes there will be discussions that sort of table the kill order until there's one more strike, so to speak. Once it's made, it's open season. Civilians (and capes) can put money into a reward pool, and it's essentially open season on the target, and anyone who's got permission and knows the general rules (no collateral damage) is allowed to go after them. Example: Lullaby has been going around and murdering little kids in Bismarck, North Dakota, displaying the bodies in prominent locations. Bismarck doesn't have a PRT office (well, it does, but it's literally a one-room office), so the heroes arrive from St. Paul-Minneapolis, and protectorate members from other cities are called in for backup. There's little need for the PRT to reach out to police and local politicians/senators, because the phone is basically ringing off the hook. A meeting is called in, directors from the various offices around St.Paul-Minneapolis are brought in, as are local politicians, police, and judges. They basically hold an abbreviated trial complete with sentencing. If there's any doubt at all, then it can't go forward. The kill order is signed (Lullaby is shown on security cameras killing the kids with her signature power, then hanging them up over an alleyway) and the notice goes out. Media is contacted, and local capes make a point of spreading the word in any communities. What generally happens is that the crazies come out of the woodwork. Intense vigilantes, mercenaries, and villains who want an excuse to get some legitimized violence going on. The heroes switch jobs (and may switch out) to a more management style. Keeping the kooks in line, keeping the vigilantes and the like from killing each other, and providing/gathering information. Lullaby gets offed by Brazen Bull, a murderer himself, manager of a roaming villain biker gang, and Brazen Bull strides into the PRT office. He collects his reward (about 90% of the $130,000 pot - the other 10% goes to the person who provided the info that helped Brazen Bull find Lullaby) and walks out without being arrested. - Comment by Wildbow on Reddit. Requirements Kill Orders are assigned to capes who are a threat to public safety. A kill order could be signed to punish criminals who consistently broke the Unwritten Rules.With your power, we have an easy way to keep any enemy we capture from wanting to enter the city, and so long as we let them go, rather than using them, we're not drawing enough heat to get a kill order put on our heads. - Imago 21.3"Given precedent, the stakes and the dangers posed by villains unwilling to follow the written and unwritten rules of the cape community, I'd be willing to argue and testify for a kill order." - Excerpt from Queen 18.5Deliberately attempting to divide our ranks could be seen as a violation of the truce, and I will push for the kill order if it goes that far. - Scourge 19.4 They generally only applied to people who even other villains agreed needed to be dealt with. As an example the Slaughterhouse Nine all have signed kill orders,"I'm offering you Cherish." I could make out Miss Militia shaking her head. "I'll be blunt, Skitter. I'm not Armsmaster. I don't have a stake in personal glory or renown. I'm not going to pussyfoot around, either. Put a bullet in her skull and be done with it. There's a kill order on them, nobody's going to charge you for murder." - Excerpt from Snare 13.7A kill order. It was what they had in place for the Slaughterhouse Nine. No holds barred, official heroes would be allowed to shoot us on sight. Any villain or vigilante that came after us would be allowed to go free with only a brief questioning for the paperwork after killing one of us. To top it off, anyone would be able to donate or post amounts for our heads; amounts would be added to running totals. We'd be waiting jackpots for any bounty hunter or assassin looking for a big score. - Excerpt from Queen 18.5 as do other S-class threats.To be clear, the self-reproducing creations thing is what gets you labeled as a Class-S threat. That's basically a kill order, but more in the line of "We're going to call in everyone we can to put you down." - Wildbow on MythWeavers Signing a kill order usually involved the local PRT discussing the situation with civilian government, police, judges, and often neighbouring PRT Directors. It involves an "abbreviated trial" and sentencing. While kill orders usually take a while to be implemented, sometimes the process is expedited,The Kill Order was signed in record time. ----Some of the people taking on the kill order are vigilantes, some are villains relishing the chance to hurt people and get paid for it, and some fit into other categories. The PRT is also in town, more to run damage control than anything else. There are little to no rules, and nothing that the hunters do here will get them prosecuted. It’s a situation that screams ‘opportunity’. - Weaverdice: Wildbow's Helena campaign or even pre-signed as a deterrent measure. Effects Signing a kill order generally causes large numbers of unstable bounty hunters to attack the target, forcing the heroes to work to keep them from killing each other. Being under a kill order makes the act of killing the subject one of self defense.Agent Smith: When Taylor was talking to Miss Militia, she (MM) mentioned that Cherish had a "kill order" on her. I've been thinking about that a lot lately, there are plenty of times when use of deadly force is authorized against criminals, but shooting someone in the head while they're tied up and helpless is pretty much universally recognized as murder. My headcannon on Kill Orders is that rather than a legally signed writ of execution, someone with a kill order is just recognized as posing an immediate credible threat to the wellbeing of everyone in the country at all times. Therefor, killing them is always self defense regardless of surrounding circumstances. Shooting Jack Slash with a sniper rifle from 2 miles away at night while he was asleep would be legallly considered self defense. Wildbow: ... You're essentially right. I imagine the law would be an interpretation very close to that. - Wildbow on Sufficient Velocity Surrender was theoretically possible for the target of a kill order. Bounties Kill orders carry a bounty funded by public donations. Criminals can collect this bounty from the PRT without fearing arrest. History Background The politics behind the Kill Order's original creation is unknown. Post-Leviathan First mentioned by Burnscar to her friend Labyrinth."I- before I knew it, the Slaughterhouse Nine had found me. Shatterbird recruited me. And now I'm stuck. I'm trapped. You know there's a kill order out on me? If I try to quit, either the Nine or the cops will off me. So I keep going, I work for them, and it all just gets worse." "Surrender? Go to the birdcage?" - Excerpt from Interlude 11c Miss Militia recommended that the Undersiders and Travelers kill the captured Shatterbird rather than turning her over.I could make out Miss Militia shaking her head. “I’ll be blunt, Skitter. I’m not Armsmaster. I don’t have a stake in personal glory or renown. I’m not going to pussyfoot around, either. Put a bullet in her skull and be done with it. There’s a kill order on them, nobody’s going to charge you for murder.” - Excerpt from Snare 13.7 Post-Slaughterhouse Nine While perusing a stolen PRT database Blasto found out that he had a pre signed kill order if his creations started self replicating. :Blasto, Real Name Unknown :Classification: Tinker 6 (sub: master 5, blaster 2, shifter 2, brute 2); plants. :Disposition: Villain (B) :Last Known Location: Boston (Allston area, east). :Crime lord of East Allston since est. date of April 2009. No subordinates. No past history as a subordinate. Criminal history indicates cap of second degree murder, tendency to mass damage to property and persons. Produces uncontrolled lifeforms that are incapable of replication. Adversarial relationship with Accord (#13151), Spree (#14755) and Chain Man (#14114). :Note: High risk of Class-S classification. Should creations self-propagate, kill orders are pre-authorized. ... No big surprises on the possible kill order. He’d been made aware of it some time ago, and had grumbled, groaned and grudgingly avoided making any lifeforms that could breed in the years since. - Excerpt from Interlude 19.x The Undersiders were at risk of getting a Kill Order. Given their activities leading to them taking over the underworld of Brockton Bay and fending off several heroic attempts to dislodge them.“I know,” I murmured, “But it wasn’t a good moment. We don’t need to make enemies of the Triumvirate, and we don’t need a kill order put on our heads.” “Miss Militia wouldn’t really,” Tattletale said. “That so?” I asked. “Or is that another one of your educated guesses?” “Educated guess,” Tattletale said. “Let’s not forget that there’s other capes with a reason to hate us, and provoking their bosses might motivate them to get on Miss Militia’s case about that kill order and cleaning up Brockton Bay. If an order comes down from above, it doesn’t matter if she’s willing to kill us or not. Let’s do our best to avoid seeming dangerous.” - Excerpt from Scourge 19.3 As an S-class threat, Echidna was immediately under a kill order due to the devastation it could wreck. The Timeskip As the fallen were escalating their criminal activity one longtime member; Seir, kidnapped and assaulted a women earning him a Kill Order.“It’s Seir!” Narwhal called out. “He had a kill order. If you’re willing to kill, this is a time it’s okay!” ... The Mathers family kidnapped people, and Seir had taken a kidnapping victim for a ‘wife’, to use a loose definition of the term. She was one of the ones who had escaped, and her story had been one of a few things that had marked the turn in the wider public perception regarding the Fallen. After that, and some similar stories, the public and started to see them less as detestable pranksters and more as the horrific cult they were. - Excerpt from Pitch 6.1It should be stressed that some aspects (costumes) are going to be played up or played down depending on what they're trying to do and what family branch you're working with. ...For the degree of crime & violation of the unwritten rules, definite evolution leading through the timeskip, with a couple of distinct groups living on the fringes and acting as the less-publicly-visible core/fallback/backup for the looser group. - The Evolution of the Fallen (Wildbow, Reddit.com, 2018-03-23) Post-Gold Morning The Amnesty essentially removed all standing kill orders. Those who have earned them were likely to be imprisoned regardless. Early-Ward During the attack on the Fallen Compound, Narwhal informs the heroes about Seir's obviated Kill Order. Using it as justification for lethal force. Post-Goddess' Takeover After a series of maimings/kidnappings, Breakthrough demands from mayor Wynn to issue kill orders for Cradle and his accomplices. She halfheartedly green-lights lethal force, but without guarantees of any formal support. Category:Terminology